Exquisite Betrayal (40 page)

“
Is it that bad? To surprise
me?”

“
Bloody damn straight. I don’t know
where to start.”

“
Start big, Ryland Thomas. Always
start big where diamonds are concerned.”

“
Right then.”

“
I’m joking,” she says.

“
Too late. You want a surprise and you
just gave me my direction. Give me your hand a second.” She does
and I look at her long fingers. “Hmmm.”

“
What?”

“
Just getting some ideas. That’s
all.”

“
Tease.”

“
That’s what you get for not wanting
to help.” I wink at her. “Come here. How ‘bout we Christen that
shower of yours?”

When she grins I know she’s in.

***

We’re all clean and shiny when I give Tilly
a call to see what she’s up to tonight. She said she’s just hanging
out and doesn’t have plans. She has no idea I’m in town, so Fallon
and I decide to pay a surprise visit on her. We pick up some carry
out sushi and arrive with our arms laden with bags of food. When
she opens the door, she nearly falls to the floor.

“
Happy New Year, Tilly,” Fallon
says.

“
Get in here, you little shit!” Then
they hug for centuries. “Jesus, it’s about damn time you two
reconciled. Damn it all, Fallon. I’m so bloody sorry.”

“
Hey, let’s put it to rest. Ryland
Thomas and I are good, so let’s just leave it at that. Damn, I’ve
missed you Tilly.”

“
Same here.”

I’m grinning like a five-year-old with a new
toy while we set out our sushi and start chatting.

Finally, I just casually say, “Oh, by the
way, Tills, Fallon and I are going to be married.”

Tills inhales the wrong way, practically
choking. When she can breathe again, she says, “Are you trying to
kill me? Bloody hell!”

“
I didn’t know you were gonna go and
choke on us.”

“
It’s all in the delivery. Now,
Fallon, would you care to tell me the good news?”

“
Well… we’re getting
hitched!”

Tilly shakes her head and laughs a little.
She coughs again and I ask if she’s okay. “Yeah. I’m fine. But that
was a bit rough.” She rubs her throat.

“
Can you eat?” Fallon wants to
know.

“
I’m fine,” Tilly insists.

Tilly wants to know about our plans and
Fallon tells her about the ring. Tilly is in stitches,
laughing.

“
You realize you’re in trouble,
Fallon, don’t you?”

“
Me? Why?” she asks.

“
Let’s say my brother here has a
tendency to go overboard.”

“
No.” Fallon looks at me and says,
“Just don’t get me something that looks like a giant plastic
toy.”

Tilly laughs harder and I tell her to stuff
it. This turns into the best New Year’s Day I’ve ever had.

***

It’s now Valentine’s Day weekend and Fallon
and I are headed to Mendocino for a three day weekend. We take our
time driving up the coastline, enjoying the clear blue skies. I’ve
arranged for us to stay in a quaint, though very swanky, bed and
breakfast that’s equipped with a spa and every other amenity one
could want.

We check in and head to the spa for our
hour-long couples Vichy shower treatment. Afterward, we head to a
couple of wine tastings and then we go back to our room for a
tasting of something completely different.

Dinner is in a small bistro, consisting of
perfect seafood paired with local wine. She’s in heaven, and I
can’t take my eyes off her.

The next morning, we have our extravagant
breakfast delivered to our room and take our time eating. I love to
feed bites of it to her, missing on purpose, so I can kiss my
misses away. I lick the syrup off her chin and move to her lips as
she laughs at me.

“
Oops,” I say as I drop a tiny bit of
French toast in the V formed by her robe. My head dips to grab it
with my lips. When I come back up, she has that look in her eye,
the one I love so much; the one that tells me she has something up
her sleeve. Except this time, she drops her sleeves, along with her
robe and stands before me, naked and gorgeous.

“
Take it off,” she says.

When I’m naked, she pushes me back in the
chair and straddles my legs. She dots my chest with pieces of her
French toast, and then follows it with syrup as she pours it from
the small pitcher. Then her eyes dig into mine for a second before
her head moves down to lick some of the gooey liquid up with her
tongue. After she swirls it on me for a bit, she puts her lips
around a piece of the toast and throws her head back, chews and
then swallows. I swear to God, my dick almost explodes.

“
Fuck.”

“
Like that, did ya?”

I swallow and nod, speaking isn’t
possible.

She gives me a sinful smile and drops down
for round two. But this time that damn syrup is all over my nipple
and she makes a beeline for it. I groan when her mouth hits it, and
my hand flies down to my crotch.

“
Uh-uh.” She traps my hand in hers and
won’t let me cover myself up. “I’m gonna take care of that for you,
babe.” She lifts up and guides me into her. I grip her hips so hard
I’m afraid I’m bruising her, however I can’t help myself. God, I
can’t help myself.

“
Ahh,” I only say because that’s all
that will come out. I want to tell her so much at that point, but I
still can’t speak. I can only use my body at this time. So that’s
what I do. I take her hand, put it on my heart and lay mine on top
of it.

My heart is in my eyes. She has to see it. I
know she does because her eyes are showing me all her love. I
explode, calling her name over and over.

After she gets hers, I can’t stop looking at
her. I take her hand, kiss her palm and then put it back on my
heart.

“
How did I get so damn lucky to find
you, lose you and find you again and again?” I kiss her.

When we pull apart, she picks up my tattooed
arm and examines it. She likes to do that. She likes to pick things
out in it, usually finding something new every time. She cried when
I told her I had it done in only two sittings. I told her it was
the best thing I’ve ever done. Other than meet her, of course.

“
Come on, sticky boy, let’s shower.” I
look down and laugh. I am one syrupy mess.

***

That afternoon, we drive out to the cliffs
that overlook the Pacific Ocean. There is a great, little secluded
place where I pull off and park. Before us lies a splendid view of
the jagged coast and the giant, turbulent waves as they crash into
the rocky shore, creating that perfect layer of bluish white
foam.

We sit there and admire it for a moment
before I take her hand. “It’s endless, the motion of the sea. Like
our love, Fallon. I’ll love you until my life ends. I think I’ll
even love you after that. You said you’d be my wife and you’d marry
me. So now we’ll complete the circle. Close your eyes, love.” She
does and I slip on the ring I’ve been carrying around with me for
days now. “You can open them now.

“
Fallon McKinley, we’re two lives, one
heart, one love, endlessly. When I look at you every worry, every
fear I have, disappears. You always bring me home, love. Please
marry me and be mine forever.”

Her right hand flies to her mouth and then
she cries. I pull her into my arms, and eventually on my lap.

“
You know I will. And it’s perfect,”
she whispers against my neck.

“
Yeah?”

“
Yeah.”

“
You can exchange it if it doesn’t
suit you.”

“
It suits me just fine.”

It’s a two and a half carat round diamond
set on an eternity band of pave diamonds. It looks lovely on her
hand.

“
I wanted it to be symbolic. The
eternity band symbolizes my endless love for you.”

“
This is perfect. We may not be
perfect, but we’re endless.” She gives me a teary smile and kisses
me. She tastes of salt, so I tell her so.

“
They’re the best tears I’ve ever
shed, Ryland Thomas.”

“
I hope they’re the last.”

“
They won’t be.”

“
Why not?” I ask her.

She gives me one of her looks that tells me
I’m showing my stupidassery again.

“
Sorry, love, I claimed it,
remember?”

“
The wedding!”

“
Ah, right then. The
wedding.”

“
After all the shit we’ve gone
through, you didn’t think for one minute that I could get through
our wedding without crying, now did you?”

“
Fallon, I hadn’t thought that far
ahead, but now that you mention it, no.”

“
So?”

“
So what?”

“
Really?”

“
You got me again, love.”

“
The wedding, Sinclair.”

Good lord, I am a bloody idiot. “Whatever
your heart desires, it’s yours.”

She rattles off without even stopping,
“Lake Tahoe, this summer
—
small, intimate, close friends. That’s it. Oh,
and
no media
.”

“
Media! Did I tell you that they
want
Love Between The Sheets
for a movie?

“
No way!”

“
Uh-huh.”

She smacks my shoulder. “And you were going
to tell me this, when?”

“
Fallon, love, I’ve had other things
on my mind. Like you and asking you to be my wife and giving you
this ring on Valentine’s Day in the most perfect place I could
find.”

“
You did well, Ryland Thomas. Did I
tell you I love you with everything I have? Because I do. Even your
stupidassery.”

“
It’s a damn good thing, ‘cause you’re
stuck with me now.” I kiss her.

“
Let’s go back to the room. Fallon
wants to play with her fiancé. Naughty play.”

There’s no way in bloody hell that I would
turn that down.

I put the diamond earrings in as Tilly makes
sure my lipstick is on straight. I’ve always hated lipstick, but
she tells me I have to wear it because of the pictures. “You’ll
want wedding pictures,” she reads my mind. “Years from now, when
you have grandchildren, you’ll want to tell them what a stupid ass
their granddad was and you’ll want to show them pictures of the day
you married him.”

She’s right. She’s always right.

“
You know, Ryland Thomas will have
your portrait everywhere, too. So just don’t lick all that gloss
off your lips.”

“
Yes, sir.” I give her a mocking
salute.

She stands back, declaring, “Well, you’re…”
and then she’s dabbing at her eyes. “Damn you, you’re ruining my
make-up.”

I hold out my arms and we hug each other.
“At least we’re officially sisters now, right?”

“
Finally! That bloody exasperating
brother of mine.”

“
Hey, that’s enough.”

She laughs. “You’ve become so damn
protective of him.”

“
And why shouldn’t I be? He’s
my…”

“
Spare me. I’ve heard it too many
times as it is.”

I laugh at her.

“
So, is everyone here?”

“
Fallon, how the bloody hell would I
know? I’ve been in here with you for the last several
hours.”

We’re in Ryland Thomas’s—make
that
our
—bedroom. The wedding
will take place overlooking the mountains on the brand new, massive
deck he had specially built for this occasion. The reception will
immediately follow. The caterers arrived late this morning and have
been cooking up quite a feast. Then the hairdresser and make-up
artist came right after that because Tilly insisted we needed
them.

My dress is simple; a sleeveless, silky
sheath with a deep V and some beading that is sewn into the waist.
I didn’t want anything fancy since the wedding isn’t going to be
fancy. As I told Ryland Thomas back on Valentine’s Day, I wanted an
intimate affair, and that’s what we are having. Tilly’s wearing a
short, periwinkle blue, silk dress that shows off all her curves;
she looks fabulous.

“
Well?”

Tilly looks at me, gives her dress one last
adjustment and says, “Right then.” We walk out the door and head
down the stairs where the photographer waits. He starts to snap
photos and we smile.

I’m doing something quite unusual; Tilly is
walking me down the aisle. There isn’t anyone else I feel close
enough with to fulfill that role, so I chose Tilly and she gladly
accepted. She’s also going to serve as Ryland Thomas’s best mate,
as he calls her.

My girls are all bridesmaids, and some of
Ryland Thomas’s mates from London are here, along with his agent,
to stand up as groomsmen.

As I walk towards the deck, I gasp. It’s
strung with lights and colorful flowers all along the railing. It’s
been transformed into the most perfect garden I’ve ever seen.
String music is playing in the background as I make my way to
Ryland Thomas who looks… well, he looks as scrumptious as the
wedding cake I’ve been dying to sink my teeth into ever since it
was delivered this morning. He’s wearing dark pants and a dark
jacket with a white shirt, unbuttoned to his chest. He’s opted to
go tie-less since we’ve dispensed with formalities.